Canada Prime Minister Trudeau fires Canada’s ambassador to China

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fired Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum.

It follows controversial comments Mr McCallum made about an extradition case involving a senior executive from the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

Mr Trudeau said in a statement he had asked John McCallum to step down, but did not offer a reason.

The prime minister did not immediately issue an explanation, but the move came just hours after McCallum was quoted in a Vancouver newspaper as saying it would be “great for Canada” if the United States dropped its extradition request for Meng Wanzhou.

“From Canada’s point of view, if (the U.S.) drops the extradition request, that would be great for Canada,” McCallum told the StarMetro Vancouver.

In a statement Mr Trudeau said: “Last night I asked for and accepted John McCallum’s resignation as Canada’s ambassador to China.”

He said the veteran diplomat had served Canadians honourably and with distinction with many positions in cabinet, and thanked him and his family for their service.

Mr McCallum caused controversy on Tuesday when he publicly argued that the US extradition request for Ms Meng was seriously flawed.

The next day he issued a statement saying that he “misspoke” and regretted that his comments had created “confusion”.